The littlest boy in this family is almost 3 years old, and will be getting his first haircut soon. So mom scheduled a family photo session to document her little boy with the long curly blonde hair. I let him be the star of the show, and took his lead, something I often do with young children at a photo session. I want them to feel comfortable playing, and I also want to capture their true personality. And in this session, there was plenty of play and personality!

One of my favorite things to capture in a family photo session is realness. Realness can be hard to achieve when a session begins with the goal of a 'perfect' portrait with everyone looking and smiling at the camera. But when mama is a photographer from Massachusetts who you met at a lifestyle photography workshop, you know she appreciates the real stuff.

And oh did these kids give me so much real! When they looked at my camera, it wasn't with the intention of pleasing me or mom and giving us a picture perfect smile. When they looked at my camera, it was to share a piece of themselves with me. I got some silly, some serious, and some sibling rivalry. I also captured love.

I met Heather and Jon when I first started doing photography, and they were a young couple who wanted anniversary photos with their dog. It's been so much fun since then to photograph a maternity session, and 3 sessions with Jace! The holiday season may be behind us, but I have so many lovely holiday family photos to share. I love that these photos can take us back to the holiday time. I love that photos are like time machines. And I love that I get to build time machines for so many families! As my favorite t-shirt says, "I can freeze time. What's your superpower?"

I've known this family for a really long time. This dad's mom and my mom have been very close friends since college! So it's been fun to get to know him as an adult, along with his wife Maya and their beautiful girls. One of the main ingredients in a session with me is fun, and this family definitely packed in the fun! The girls were high energy, enthusiastic, and creative, which gave me so many 'so you' moments that were so full of life, and that really capture the spirit of their family.

What a beautiful session with a fun and loving family at Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens! A great combination of a family hanging out and snuggling together, and parents observing as baby girl started exploring on her own. And when she feels free to explore, the whole family treasures those snuggles so much more! This is my favorite kind of session, where everyone is laid back and we give the moments a chance to unfold. So many 'so you' moments!